Although the United Kingdom is a sovereign country, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are also widely referred to as countries.[45][46] The UK Prime Minister's website has used the phrase "countries within a country" to describe the United Kingdom.[21] Some statistical summaries, such as those for the twelve NUTS 1 regions of the United Kingdom refer to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as "regions".[47][48] Northern Ireland is also referred to as a "province".[49][50] With regard to Northern Ireland, the descriptive name used "can be controversial, with the choice often revealing one's political preferences".[51]

The term "Great Britain" conventionally refers to the island of Great Britain, or politically to England, Scotland and Wales in combination.[52][53][54] However, it is sometimes used as a loose synonym for the United Kingdom as a whole.[55]

The term "Britain" is used both as a synonym for Great Britain,[56][57][58] and as a synonym for the United Kingdom.[59][58]
Usage is mixed, with the BBC preferring to use Britain as shorthand only for Great Britain[60] and the UK Government, while accepting that both terms refer to the United Kingdom, preferring to use the term UK rather than Britain.[61] The UK Permanent Committee on Geographical Names lists "United Kingdom" and "UK or U.K." as shortened and abbreviated geopolitical terms for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, it does not list "Britain",[62] stating that it has been used "informally" by government websites.[63]

The adjective "British" is commonly used to refer to matters relating to the United Kingdom. The term has no definite legal connotation, but is used in law to refer to United Kingdom citizenship and matters to do with nationality.[64] People of the United Kingdom use a number of different terms to describe their national identity and may identify themselves as being British, English, Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish, or Irish;[65] or as belonging to a combination of different national identities.[66]

In 1603, the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland were united in a personal union when James VI, King of Scots, inherited the crowns of England and Ireland and moved his court from Edinburgh to London; each country nevertheless remained a separate political entity and retained its separate political, legal, and religious institutions.[81][82]

Though previous attempts at uniting the two kingdoms within Great Britain in 1606, 1667, and 1689 had proved unsuccessful, the attempt initiated in 1705 led to the Treaty of Union of 1706 being agreed and ratified by both parliaments.

During the 18th century, Britain was involved in the Atlantic slave trade. British ships transported an estimated two million slaves from Africa to the West Indies. Parliament banned the trade in 1807, banned slavery in the British Empire in 1833, and Britain took a leading role in the movement to abolish slavery worldwide through the blockade of Africa and pressing other nations to end their trade with a series of treaties. The world's oldest international human rights organisation, Anti-Slavery International, was formed in London in 1839.[93][94][95]

In the early 19th century, the British-led Industrial Revolution began to transform the country. Gradually political power shifted away from the old Tory and Whig landowning classes towards the new industrialists. An alliance of merchants and industrialists with the Whigs would lead to a new party, the Liberals, with an ideology of free trade and laissez-faire. In 1832 Parliament passed the Great Reform Act, which began the transfer of political power from the aristocracy to the middle classes. In the countryside, enclosure of the land was driving small farmers out. Towns and cities began to swell with a new urban working class. Few ordinary workers had the vote, and they created their own organisations in the form of trade unions.[citation needed]

After the defeat of France at the end of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815), Great Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century (with London the largest city in the world from about 1830).[97]Unchallenged at sea, British dominance was later described as Pax Britannica ("British Peace"), a period of relative peace among the Great Powers (1815–1914) during which the British Empire became the global hegemon and adopted the role of global policeman.[98][99][100][101] By the time of the Great Exhibition of 1851, Britain was described as the "workshop of the world".[102] The British Empire was expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. Alongside the formal control it exerted over its own colonies, British dominance of much of world trade meant that it effectively controlled the economies of many regions, such as Asia and Latin America.[103][104] Domestically, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies and a gradual widening of the voting franchise. During the century, the population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, causing significant social and economic stresses.[105] To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, and elsewhere. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions.[106] After the turn of the century, Britain's industrial dominance was challenged by Germany and the United States.[107]

Social reform and home rule for Ireland were important domestic issues after 1900. The Labour Party emerged from an alliance of trade unions and small socialist groups in 1900, and suffragettes campaigned for women's right to vote before 1914.[108]

Britain fought alongside France, Russia and (after 1917) the United States, against Germany and its allies in the First World War (1914–1918).[109] British armed forces were engaged across much of the British Empire and in several regions of Europe, particularly on the Western front.[110] The high fatalities of trench warfare caused the loss of much of a generation of men, with lasting social effects in the nation and a great disruption in the social order.

After the war, Britain received the League of Nations mandate over a number of former German and Ottoman colonies. The British Empire reached its greatest extent, covering a fifth of the world's land surface and a quarter of its population.[111] However, Britain had suffered 2.5 million casualties and finished the war with a huge national debt.[110]

The UK was the third country to develop a nuclear weapons arsenal (with its first atomic bomb test in 1952), but the new post-war limits of Britain's international role were illustrated by the Suez Crisis of 1956. The international spread of the English language ensured the continuing international influence of its literature and culture.[124][125] As a result of a shortage of workers in the 1950s, the government encouraged immigration from Commonwealth countries. In the following decades, the UK became a more multi-ethnic society than before.[126] Despite rising living standards in the late 1950s and 1960s, the UK's economic performance was less successful than many of its main competitors such as France, West Germany and Japan.

Following a period of widespread economic slowdown and industrial strife in the 1970s, the Conservative government of the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher initiated a radical policy of monetarism, deregulation, particularly of the financial sector (for example, Big Bang in 1986) and labour markets, the sale of state-owned companies (privatisation), and the withdrawal of subsidies to others.[132] This resulted in high unemployment and social unrest. From 1984, the economy was helped by the inflow of substantial North Sea oil revenues.[133]

Geography

The total area of the United Kingdom is approximately 244,820 square kilometres (94,530 sq mi). The country occupies the major part of the British Isles[141]archipelago and includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern one-sixth of the island of Ireland and some smaller surrounding islands. It lies between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea with the south-east coast coming within 22 miles (35 km) of the coast of northern France, from which it is separated by the English Channel.[142] In 1993 10 per cent of the UK was forested, 46 per cent used for pastures and 25 per cent cultivated for agriculture.[143] The Royal Greenwich Observatory in London was chosen as the defining point of the Prime Meridian[144] in Washington in 1884, though it no longer is.[145]

The United Kingdom lies between latitudes 49° and 61° N, and longitudes 9° W and 2° E. Northern Ireland shares a 224-mile (360 km) land boundary with the Republic of Ireland.[142] The coastline of Great Britain is 11,073 miles (17,820 km) long.[146] It is connected to continental Europe by the Channel Tunnel, which at 31 miles (50 km) (24 miles (38 km) underwater) is the longest underwater tunnel in the world.[147]

Wales accounts for less than a tenth (9 per cent) of the total area of the UK, covering 20,779 square kilometres (8,020 sq mi).[154] Wales is mostly mountainous, though South Wales is less mountainous than North and mid Wales. The main population and industrial areas are in South Wales, consisting of the coastal cities of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and the South Wales Valleys to their north. The highest mountains in Wales are in Snowdonia and include Snowdon (Welsh: Yr Wyddfa) which, at 1,085 metres (3,560 ft), is the highest peak in Wales.[143] Wales has over 2,704 kilometres (1,680 miles) of coastline.[146] Several islands lie off the Welsh mainland, the largest of which is Anglesey (Ynys Môn) in the north-west.

Climate

The United Kingdom has a temperate climate, with plentiful rainfall all year round.[142] The temperature varies with the seasons seldom dropping below −11 °C (12 °F) or rising above 35 °C (95 °F).[156] The prevailing wind is from the south-west and bears frequent spells of mild and wet weather from the Atlantic Ocean,[142] although the eastern parts are mostly sheltered from this wind since the majority of the rain falls over the western regions the eastern parts are therefore the driest. Atlantic currents, warmed by the Gulf Stream, bring mild winters;[157] especially in the west where winters are wet and even more so over high ground. Summers are warmest in the south-east of England, being closest to the European mainland, and coolest in the north. Heavy snowfall can occur in winter and early spring on high ground, and occasionally settles to great depth away from the hills.

Administrative divisions

The geographical division of the United Kingdom into counties or shires began in England and Scotland in the early Middle Ages and was complete throughout Great Britain and Ireland by the early Modern Period.[158] Administrative arrangements were developed separately in each country of the United Kingdom, with origins which often pre-dated the formation of the United Kingdom. Modern local government by elected councils, partly based on the ancient counties, was introduced separately: in England and Wales in a 1888 act, Scotland in a 1889 act and Ireland in a 1898 act, meaning there is no consistent system of administrative or geographic demarcation across the United Kingdom.[159]
Until the 19th century there was little change to those arrangements, but there has since been a constant evolution of role and function.[160]

For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 council areas, with wide variation in both size and population. The cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee are separate council areas, as is the Highland Council, which includes a third of Scotland's area but only just over 200,000 people. Local councils are made up of elected councillors, of whom there are 1,223;[165] they are paid a part-time salary. Elections are conducted by single transferable vote in multi-member wards that elect either three or four councillors. Each council elects a Provost, or Convenor, to chair meetings of the council and to act as a figurehead for the area.

Local government in Wales consists of 22 unitary authorities. These include the cities of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, which are unitary authorities in their own right.[166] Elections are held every four years under the first-past-the-post system.[166]

Local government in Northern Ireland has since 1973 been organised into 26 district councils, each elected by single transferable vote. Their powers are limited to services such as collecting waste, controlling dogs and maintaining parks and cemeteries.[167] In 2008 the executive agreed on proposals to create 11 new councils and replace the present system.[168]

They are the last remaining remnants of the British Empire and a 1999 UK government white paper stated that: "[The] Overseas Territories are British for as long as they wish to remain British. Britain has willingly granted independence where it has been requested; and we will continue to do so where this is an option."[173] Self-determination is also enshrined into the constitutions of several overseas territories and three have specifically voted to remain under British sovereignty (Bermuda in 1995,[174] Gibraltar in 2002[175] and the Falkland Islands in 2013).[176]

The Crown dependencies are possessions of the Crown, as opposed to overseas territories of the UK.[177] They comprise three independently administered jurisdictions: the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey in the English Channel, and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. By mutual agreement, the British Government manages the islands' foreign affairs and defence and the UK Parliament has the authority to legislate on their behalf. However, internationally, they are regarded as "territories for which the United Kingdom is responsible".[178] The power to pass legislation affecting the islands ultimately rests with their own respective legislative assemblies, with the assent of the Crown (Privy Council or, in the case of the Isle of Man, in certain circumstances the Lieutenant-Governor).[179] Since 2005 each Crown dependency has had a Chief Minister as its head of government.[180]

The position of prime minister,[note 13] the UK's head of government,[184] belongs to the person most likely to command the confidence of the House of Commons; this individual is typically the leader of the political party or coalition of parties that holds the largest number of seats in that chamber. The prime minister chooses a cabinet and its members are formally appointed by the monarch to form Her Majesty's Government. By convention, the monarch respects the prime minister's decisions of government.[185]

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own government or executive, led by a First Minister (or, in the case of Northern Ireland, a diarchalFirst Minister and deputy First Minister), and a devolvedunicameral legislature. England, the largest country of the United Kingdom, has no such devolved executive or legislature and is administered and legislated for directly by the UK's government and parliament on all issues. This situation has given rise to the so-called West Lothian question, which concerns the fact that members of parliament from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can vote, sometimes decisively,[191] on matters that affect only England.[192] The 2013 McKay Commission on this recommended that laws affecting only England should need support from a majority of English members of parliament.[193]

The UK does not have a codified constitution and constitutional matters are not among the powers devolved to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Under the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, the UK Parliament could, in theory, therefore, abolish the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly or Northern Ireland Assembly.[198][199] Indeed, in 1972, the UK Parliament unilaterally prorogued the Parliament of Northern Ireland, setting a precedent relevant to contemporary devolved institutions.[200] In practice, it would be politically difficult for the UK Parliament to abolish devolution to the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly, given the political entrenchment created by referendum decisions.[201] The political constraints placed upon the UK Parliament's power to interfere with devolution in Northern Ireland are even greater than in relation to Scotland and Wales, given that devolution in Northern Ireland rests upon an international agreement with the Government of Ireland.[202]

Scots law is a hybrid system based on both common-law and civil-law principles. The chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases,[210] and the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases.[211] The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom serves as the highest court of appeal for civil cases under Scots law.[212]Sheriff courts deal with most civil and criminal cases including conducting criminal trials with a jury, known as sheriff solemn court, or with a sheriff and no jury, known as sheriff summary Court.[213] The Scots legal system is unique in having three possible verdicts for a criminal trial: "guilty", "not guilty" and "not proven". Both "not guilty" and "not proven" result in an acquittal.[214]

Crime in England and Wales increased in the period between 1981 and 1995, though since that peak there has been an overall fall of 66 per cent in recorded crime from 1995 to 2015,[215] according to crime statistics. The prison population of England and Wales has increased to 86,000, giving England and Wales the highest rate of incarceration in Western Europe at 148 per 100,000.[216][217]Her Majesty's Prison Service, which reports to the Ministry of Justice, manages most of the prisons within England and Wales. The murder rate in England and Wales has stabilised in the first half of the 2010s with a murder rate around 1 per 100,000 which is half the peak in 2002 and similar to the rate in the 1980s[218][219] Crime in Scotland fell slightly in 2014/2015 to its lowest level in 39 years in with 59 killings for a murder rate of 1.1 per 100,000. Scotland's prisons are overcrowded but the prison population is shrinking.[220]

The Industrial Revolution started in the UK with an initial concentration on the textile industry,[247] followed by other heavy industries such as shipbuilding, coal mining and steelmaking.[248][249] British merchants, shippers and bankers developed overwhelming advantage over those of other nations allowing the UK to dominate international trade in the 19th century.[250][251] As other nations industrialised, coupled with economic decline after two world wars, the United Kingdom began to lose its competitive advantage and heavy industry declined, by degrees, throughout the 20th century. Manufacturing remains a significant part of the economy but accounted for only 16.7 per cent of national output in 2003.[252]

Jaguar cars, including the Jaguar XE as shown, are designed, developed and manufactured in the UK.

The automotive industry is a significant part of the UK manufacturing sector and employs around 800,000 people, with a turnover in 2015 of £70 billion, generating £34.6 billion of exports (11.8 per cent of the UK's total export goods). In 2015, the UK produced around 1.6 million passenger vehicles and 94,500 commercial vehicles. The UK is a major centre for engine manufacturing: in 2015 around 2.4 million engines were produced. The UK motorsport industry employs around 41,000 people, comprises around 4,500 companies and has an annual turnover of around £6 billion.[253]

BAE Systems plays a critical role in some of the world's biggest defence aerospace projects. In the UK, the company makes large sections of the Typhoon Eurofighter and assembles the aircraft for the Royal Air Force. It is also a principal subcontractor on the F35 Joint Strike Fighter – the world's largest single defence project – for which it designs and manufactures a range of components. It also manufactures the Hawk, the world's most successful jet training aircraft.[255]Airbus UK also manufactures the wings for the A400 m military transporter. Rolls-Royce is the world's second-largest aero-engine manufacturer. Its engines power more than 30 types of commercial aircraft and it has more than 30,000 engines in service in the civil and defence sectors.

The UK space industry was worth £9.1bn in 2011 and employed 29,000 people. It is growing at a rate of 7.5 per cent annually, according to its umbrella organisation, the UK Space Agency. In 2013, the British Government pledged £60 m to the Skylon project: this investment will provide support at a "crucial stage" to allow a full-scale prototype of the SABRE engine to be built.

The pharmaceutical industry plays an important role in the UK economy and the country has the third-highest share of global pharmaceutical R&D expenditures.[256][257]

Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised and efficient by European standards, producing about 60 per cent of food needs with less than 1.6 per cent of the labour force (535,000 workers).[258] Around two-thirds of production is devoted to livestock, one-third to arable crops. Farmers are subsidised by the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. The UK retains a significant, though much reduced fishing industry. It is also rich in a number of natural resources including coal, petroleum, natural gas, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, lead, silica and an abundance of arable land.[259]

The Canary Wharf is one of the two main financial centres of the UK along with the City of London.

In the final quarter of 2008, the UK economy officially entered recession for the first time since 1991.[260] Following the likes of the United States, France and many major economies, in 2013, the UK lost its top AAA credit rating for the first time since 1978 with Moodys and Fitchcredit agency, but, unlike the other major economies, retained its triple A rating with Standard & Poor's.[261][262] By the end of 2014, UK growth was the fastest in both the G7 and in Europe,[263][264] and by September 2015, the unemployment rate was down to a seven-year low of 5.3 per cent.[265]

Since the 1980s, UK economic inequality, like Canada, Australia and the United States, has grown faster than in other developed countries.[266][267] The poverty line in the UK is commonly defined as being 60 per cent of the median household income.[note 15] The Office for National Statistics has estimated that in 2011, 14 million people were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, and that one person in 20 (5.1 per cent) was experiencing "severe material depression",[268] up from 3 million people in 1977.[269][270] Although the UK does not have an official poverty measure, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Social Metrics Commission estimate, based on government data, that there are 14 million people in poverty in the UK.[271][272] 1.5 million people experienced destitution in 2017.[273] In 2018, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights visited the UK and found that government policies and cuts to social support are "entrenching high levels of poverty and inflicting unnecessary misery in one of the richest countries in the world."[274] His final 2019 report found that the UK government was doubling down on policies that have "led to the systematic immiseration of millions across Great Britain" and that sustained and widespread cuts to social support "amount to retrogressive measures in clear violation of the United Kingdom’s human rights obligations."[275]

Clarks was founded in 1825 and has since become a leader and specialist in school shoes for children.

The combination of the UK's relatively lax regulatory regime and London's financial institutions providing sophisticated methods to launder proceeds from criminal activity around the world, including those from drug trade, makes the City of London a global hub for illicit finance and the UK a safe haven for the world's major-league tax dodgers, according to research papers and reports published in the mid-2010s.[281][282][283][284][285][286] The reports on the Panama papers published in April 2016 singled out the UK as being "at the heart of super-rich tax-avoidance network."[287]

Scientific research and development remains important in British universities, with many establishing science parks to facilitate production and co-operation with industry.[303] Between 2004 and 2008 the UK produced 7 per cent of the world's scientific research papers and had an 8 per cent share of scientific citations, the third and second-highest in the world (after the United States and China, respectively).[304] Scientific journals produced in the UK include Nature, the British Medical Journal and The Lancet.[305]

Transport

A radial road network totals 29,145 miles (46,904 km) of main roads, 2,173 miles (3,497 km) of motorways and 213,750 miles (344,000 km) of paved roads.[142] The M25, encircling London, is the largest and busiest bypass in the world.[308] In 2009 there were a total of 34 million licensed vehicles in Great Britain.[309]

London St Pancras International is the UK's 13th busiest railway terminus. The station is one of London's main domestic and international transport hubs providing both commuter rail and high-speed rail services across the UK and to Paris, Lille and Brussels.

The UK has a railway network of 10,072 miles (16,209 km) in Great Britain and 189 miles (304 km) in Northern Ireland. Railways in Northern Ireland are operated by NI Railways, a subsidiary of state-owned Translink. In Great Britain, the British Rail network was privatised between 1994 and 1997, which was followed by a rapid rise in passenger numbers following years of decline, although the factors behind this are disputed. The UK was ranked eighth among national European rail systems in the 2017 European Railway Performance Index assessing intensity of use, quality of service and safety.[310]Network Rail owns and manages most of the fixed assets (tracks, signals etc.). About 20 privately owned Train Operating Companies operate passenger trains, which carried 1.68 billion passengers in 2015.[311][312] There are also some 1,000 freight trains in daily operation.[when?][142] The British Government is to spend £30 billion on a new high-speed railway line, HS2, to be operational by 2026.[313]Crossrail, under construction in London, is Europe's largest construction project with a £15 billion projected cost.[314][315]

Energy

In 2006, the UK was the world's ninth-largest consumer of energy and the 15th-largest producer.[318] The UK is home to a number of large energy companies, including two of the six oil and gas "supermajors" – BP and Royal Dutch Shell.[319][320] In 2011, 40 per cent of the UK's electricity was produced by gas, 30 per cent by coal, 19 per cent by nuclear power and 4.2 per cent by wind, hydro, biofuels and wastes.[321]

In 2013, the UK produced 914 thousand barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil and consumed 1,507 thousand bbl/d.[322][323] Production is now in decline and the UK has been a net importer of oil since 2005.[324] In 2010[update] the UK had around 3.1 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, the largest of any EU member state.[324]

In 2009, the UK was the 13th-largest producer of natural gas in the world and the largest producer in the EU.[325] Production is now in decline and the UK has been a net importer of natural gas since 2004.[325]

Coal production played a key role in the UK economy in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the mid-1970s, 130 million tonnes of coal were produced annually, not falling below 100 million tonnes until the early 1980s. During the 1980s and 1990s the industry was scaled back considerably. In 2011, the UK produced 18.3 million tonnes of coal.[326] In 2005 it had proven recoverable coal reserves of 171 million tons.[326] The UK Coal Authority has stated there is a potential to produce between 7 billion tonnes and 16 billion tonnes of coal through underground coal gasification (UCG) or 'fracking',[327] and that, based on current UK coal consumption, such reserves could last between 200 and 400 years.[328] However, environmental and social concerns have been raised over chemicals getting into the water table and minor earthquakes damaging homes.[329][330]

In the late 1990s, nuclear power plants contributed around 25 per cent of total annual electricity generation in the UK, but this has gradually declined as old plants have been shut down and ageing-related problems affect plant availability. In 2012, the UK had 16 reactors normally generating about 19 per cent of its electricity. All but one of the reactors will be retired by 2023. Unlike Germany and Japan, the UK intends to build a new generation of nuclear plants from about 2018.[321]

The total of all renewable electricity sources provided for 14.9 per cent of the electricity generated in the United Kingdom in 2013,[331] reaching 53.7 TWh of electricity generated. The UK is one of the best sites in Europe for wind energy, and wind power production is its fastest growing supply, in 2014 it generated 9.3 per cent of the UK's total electricity.[332][333][334]

Water supply and sanitation

Access to improved water supply and sanitation in the UK is universal. It is estimated that 96.7 per cent of households are connected to the sewer network.[335] According to the Environment Agency, total water abstraction for public water supply in the UK was 16,406 megalitres per day in 2007.[336] Drinking water standards and wastewater discharge standards in the UK, as in other countries of the European Union, are determined by the EU (see Water supply and sanitation in the European Union).[citation needed]

In England and Wales water and sewerage services are provided by 10 private regional water and sewerage companies and 13 mostly smaller private "water only" companies. In Scotland water and sewerage services are provided by a single public company, Scottish Water. In Northern Ireland water and sewerage services are also provided by a single public entity, Northern Ireland Water.[citation needed]

Demographics

A census is taken simultaneously in all parts of the UK every ten years.[337] In the 2011 census the total population of the United Kingdom was 63,181,775.[338] It is the third-largest in the European Union, the fifth-largest in the Commonwealth and the 22nd-largest in the world. In mid-2014 and mid-2015 net long-term international migration contributed more to population growth. In mid-2012 and mid-2013 natural change contributed the most to population growth.[339] Between 2001 and 2011 the population increased by an average annual rate of approximately 0.7 per cent.[338] This compares to 0.3 per cent per year in the period 1991 to 2001 and 0.2 per cent in the decade 1981 to 1991.[340] The 2011 census also confirmed that the proportion of the population aged 0–14 has nearly halved (31 per cent in 1911 compared to 18 in 2011) and the proportion of older people aged 65 and over has more than tripled (from 5 per cent to 16 per cent).[338]

England's population in 2011 was 53 million.[341] It is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with 420 people resident per square kilometre in mid-2015.[339] with a particular concentration in London and the south-east.[342] The 2011 census put Scotland's population at 5.3 million,[343] Wales at 3.06 million and Northern Ireland at 1.81 million.[341]

In 2017 the average total fertility rate (TFR) across the UK was 1.74 children born per woman.[344] While a rising birth rate is contributing to current population growth, it remains considerably below the baby boom peak of 2.95 children per woman in 1964,[345] or the high of 6.02 children born per woman in 1815,[346] below the replacement rate of 2.1, but higher than the 2001 record low of 1.63.[347] In 2011, 47.3 per cent of births in the UK were to unmarried women.[348] The Office for National Statistics published a bulletin in 2015 showing that, out of the UK population aged 16 and over, 1.7 per cent identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (2.0 per cent of males and 1.5 per cent of females); 4.5 per cent of respondents responded with "other", "I don't know", or did not respond.[349] In 2018 the median age of the UK population was 41.7 years.[350]

Ethnic groups

Map showing the percentage of the population who are not white according to the 2011 census

Historically, indigenous British people were thought to be descended from the various ethnic groups that settled there before the 12th century: the Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Norse and the Normans. Welsh people could be the oldest ethnic group in the UK.[354] A 2006 genetic study shows that more than 50 per cent of England's gene pool contains Germanic Y chromosomes.[355] Another 2005 genetic analysis indicates that "about 75 per cent of the traceable ancestors of the modern British population had arrived in the British isles by about 6,200 years ago, at the start of the British Neolithic or Stone Age", and that the British broadly share a common ancestry with the Basque people.[356][357][358]

The UK has a history of small-scale non-white immigration, with Liverpool having the oldest Black population in the country dating back to at least the 1730s during the period of the African slave trade. During this period it is estimated the Afro-Caribbean population of Great Britain was 10,000 to 15,000[359] which later declined due to the abolition of slavery.[360][361] The UK also has the oldest Chinese community in Europe, dating to the arrival of Chinese seamen in the 19th century.[362] In 1950 there were probably fewer than 20,000 non-white residents in Britain, almost all born overseas.[363] In 1951 there were an estimated 94,500 people living in Britain who had been born in South Asia, China, Africa and the Caribbean, just under 0.2 per cent of the UK population. By 1961 this number had more than quadrupled to 384,000, just over 0.7 per cent of the United Kingdom population.[364]

Since 1948 substantial immigration from Africa, the Caribbean and South Asia has been a legacy of ties forged by the British Empire.[365] Migration from new EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe since 2004 has resulted in growth in these population groups, although some of this migration has been temporary.[366] Since the 1990s, there has been substantial diversification of the immigrant population, with migrants to the UK coming from a much wider range of countries than previous waves, which tended to involve larger numbers of migrants coming from a relatively small number of countries.[367][368][369]

Academics have argued that the ethnicity categories employed in British national statistics, which were first introduced in the 1991 census, involve confusion between the concepts of ethnicity and race.[374][375] In 2011[update], 87.2 per cent of the UK population identified themselves as white, meaning 12.8 per cent of the UK population identify themselves as of one of number of ethnic minority groups.[371] In the 2001 census, this figure was 7.9 per cent of the UK population.[376]

Because of differences in the wording of the census forms used in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, data on the Other White group is not available for the UK as a whole, but in England and Wales this was the fastest growing group between the 2001 and 2011 censuses, increasing by 1.1 million (1.8 percentage points).[377] Amongst groups for which comparable data is available for all parts of the UK level, the Other Asian category increased from 0.4 per cent to 1.4 per cent of the population between 2001 and 2011, while the Mixed category rose from 1.2 per cent to 2 per cent.[371]

Ethnic diversity varies significantly across the UK. 30.4 per centof London's population and 37.4 per cent of Leicester's was estimated to be non-white in 2005[update],[378][379] whereas less than 5 per cent of the populations of North East England, Wales and the South West were from ethnic minorities, according to the 2001 census.[380] In 2016[update], 31.4 per cent of primary and 27.9 per cent of secondary pupils at state schools in England were members of an ethnic minority.[381] The 1991 census was the first UK census to have a question on ethnic group. In the 1991 UK census 94.1 per cent of people reported themselves as being White British, White Irish or White Other with 5.9 per cent of people reporting themselves as coming from other minority groups[382]

The UK's de facto official language is English.[385][386] It is estimated that 95 per cent of the UK's population are monolingual English speakers.[387] 5.5 per cent of the population are estimated to speak languages brought to the UK as a result of relatively recent immigration.[387] South Asian languages, including Punjabi, Hindi, Bengali and Gujarati, are the largest grouping and are spoken by 2.7 per cent of the UK population.[387] According to the 2011 census, Polish has become the second-largest language spoken in England and has 546,000 speakers.[388] In 2019, some three quarters of a million people spoke little or no English.[389]

It is compulsory for pupils to study a second language up to the age of 14 in England.[400] French and German are the two most commonly taught second languages in England and Scotland. All pupils in Wales are taught Welsh as a second language up to age 16, or are taught in Welsh.[401]

Religion

Forms of Christianity have dominated religious life in what is now the United Kingdom for over 1400 years.[402] Although a majority of citizens still identify with Christianity in many surveys, regular church attendance has fallen dramatically since the middle of the 20th century,[403] while immigration and demographic change have contributed to the growth of other faiths, most notably Islam.[404] This has led some commentators to variously describe the UK as a multi-faith,[405]secularised,[406] or post-Christian society.[407]

In the 2001 census 71.6 per cent of all respondents indicated that they were Christians, with the next largest faiths being Islam (2.8 per cent), Hinduism (1.0 per cent), Sikhism (0.6 per cent), Judaism (0.5 per cent), Buddhism (0.3 per cent) and all other religions (0.3 per cent).[408] 15 per cent of respondents stated that they had no religion, with a further 7 per cent not stating a religious preference.[409] A Tearfund survey in 2007 showed only one in ten Britons actually attend church weekly.[410] Between the 2001 and 2011 census there was a decrease in the number of people who identified as Christian by 12 per cent, whilst the percentage of those reporting no religious affiliation doubled. This contrasted with growth in the other main religious group categories, with the number of Muslims increasing by the most substantial margin to a total of about 5 per cent.[7] The Muslim population has increased from 1.6 million in 2001 to 2.7 million in 2011,[411] making it the second-largest religious group in the United Kingdom.[412]

Migration

Estimated foreign-born population by country of birth from April 2007 to March 2008

The United Kingdom has experienced successive waves of migration. The Great Famine in Ireland, then part of the United Kingdom, resulted in perhaps a million people migrating to Great Britain.[420] Throughout the 19th century a small population of German immigrants built up, numbering 28,644 in England and Wales in 1861. London held around half of this population, and other small communities existed in Manchester, Bradford and elsewhere. The German immigrant community was the largest group until 1891, when it became second to Russian Jews.[421] England has had small Jewish communities for many centuries, subject to occasional expulsions, but British Jews numbered fewer than 10,000 at the start of the 19th century. After 1881, Russian Jews suffered bitter persecutions and some had 2,000,000 left Russia (which included parts of modern-day Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine) by 1914. Around 120,000 settled permanently in Britain, becoming the largest ethnic minority from outside the British Isles;[422][423] this population had increased to 370,000 by 1938.[424][425][426] Unable to return to Poland at the end of the Second World War, over 120,000 Polish veterans remained in the UK permanently.[427] After the Second World War, there was significant immigration from the colonies and newly independent former colonies, many from the Caribbean and Indian subcontinent, partly as a legacy of empire and partly driven by labour shortages.[428] In 1841, 0.25 [per cent of the population of England and Wales was born in a foreign country, increasing to 1.5 per cent by 1901,[429] 2.6 per cent by 1931, and 4.4 per cent in 1951.[430]

In 2014 the net increase was 318,000: immigration was 641,000, up from 526,000 in 2013, while the number of people emigrating (for more than 12 months) was 323,000.[431] One of the more recent trends in migration has been the arrival of workers from the new EU member states in Eastern Europe, known as the A8 countries.[366] Citizens of the European Union, including those of the UK, have the right to live and work in any EU member state.[432] The UK applied temporary restrictions to citizens of Romania and Bulgaria, which joined the EU in January 2007.[433] Research conducted by the Migration Policy Institute for the Equality and Human Rights Commission suggests that, between May 2004 and September 2009, 1.5 million workers migrated from the new EU member states to the UK, two-thirds of them Polish, but that many subsequently returned home, resulting in a net increase in the number of nationals of the new member states in the UK of some 700,000 over that period.[434][435] The late-2000s recession in the UK reduced the economic incentive for Poles to migrate to the UK,[436] the migration becoming temporary and circular.[437] In 2009, for the first time since enlargement, more nationals of the eight central and eastern European states that had joined the EU in 2004 left the UK than arrived.[438] In 2011, citizens of the new EU member states made up 13 per cent of the immigrants entering the country.[439] In 2010, there were 7.0 million foreign-born residents in the UK, corresponding to 11.3 per cent of the total population. Of these, 4.76 million (7.7 per cent) were born outside the EU and 2.24 million (3.6 per cent) were born in another EU Member State.[440] The proportion of foreign-born people in the UK remains slightly below that of many other European countries.[441]

Immigration is now contributing to a rising population[442] with arrivals and UK-born children of migrants accounting for about half of the population increase between 1991 and 2001. Over a quarter (27.0 per cent) of live births in 2014 were to mothers born outside the UK, according to official statistics released in 2015.[443] Analysis of Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows that a net total of 2.3 million migrants moved to the UK in the 15 years from 1991 to 2006.[444] The ONS reported that net migration rose from 2009 to 2010 by 21 per cent to 239,000.[445]

In 2013, approximately 208,000 foreign nationals were naturalised as British citizens, the highest number since records began in 1962. This figure fell to around 125,800 in 2014. Between 2009 and 2013, the average number of people granted British citizenship per year was 195,800. The main countries of previous nationality of those naturalised in 2014 were India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Nepal, China, South Africa, Poland and Somalia.[446] The total number of grants of settlement, which confers permanent residence in the UK without granting British citizenship,[447] was approximately 154,700 in 2013, compared to 241,200 in 2010 and 129,800 in 2012.[446]

Emigration was an important feature of British society in the 19th century. Between 1815 and 1930 around 11.4 million people emigrated from Britain and 7.3 million from Ireland. Estimates show that by the end of the 20th century some 300 million people of British and Irish descent were permanently settled around the globe.[455] Today, at least 5.5 million UK-born people live abroad,[456][457][458] mainly in Australia, Spain, the United States and Canada.[456][459]

Education

Education in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, with each country having a separate education system.

Considering the four systems together, about 38 per cent of the United Kingdom population has a university or college degree, which is the highest percentage in Europe, and among the highest percentages in the world.[460][461] The United Kingdom trails only the United States in terms of representation on lists of top 100 universities.[462][463][464][465]

A government commission's report in 2014 found that privately educated people comprise 7 per cent of the general population of the UK but much larger percentages of the top professions, the most extreme case quoted being 71 per cent of senior judges.[466][467]

Whilst education in England is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Education, the day-to-day administration and funding of state schools is the responsibility of local authorities.[468] Universally free of charge state education was introduced piecemeal between 1870 and 1944.[469][470] Education is now mandatory from ages five to sixteen, and in England youngsters must stay in education or training until they are 18.[471] In 2011, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) rated 13–14-year-old pupils in England and Wales 10th in the world for maths and 9th for science.[472] The majority of children are educated in state-sector schools, a small proportion of which select on the grounds of academic ability. Two of the top ten performing schools in terms of GCSE results in 2006 were state-run grammar schools. In 2010, over half of places at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge were taken by students from state schools,[473] while the proportion of children in England attending private schools is around 7 per cent, which rises to 18 per cent of those over 16.[474][475] England has the two oldest universities in English-speaking world, Universities of Oxford and Cambridge (jointly known as "Oxbridge") with history of over eight centuries.[citation needed]

The Welsh Government has responsibility for education in Wales. A significant number of Welsh students are taught either wholly or largely in the Welsh language; lessons in Welsh are compulsory for all until the age of 16.[481] There are plans to increase the provision of Welsh-medium schools as part of the policy of creating a fully bilingual Wales.[citation needed]

Health

Healthcare in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter and each country has its own system of private and publicly funded health care, together with alternative, holistic and complementary treatments. Public healthcare is provided to all UK permanent residents and is mostly free at the point of need, being paid for from general taxation. The World Health Organization, in 2000, ranked the provision of healthcare in the United Kingdom as fifteenth best in Europe and eighteenth in the world.[483][484] Since 1979 expenditure on healthcare has been increased significantly to bring it closer to the European Union average.[485] The UK spends around 8.4 per cent of its gross domestic product on healthcare, which is 0.5 percentage points below the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average and about one percentage point below the average of the European Union.[486]

Culture

The culture of the United Kingdom has been influenced by many factors including: the nation's island status; its history as a western liberal democracy and a major power; as well as being a political union of four countries with each preserving elements of distinctive traditions, customs and symbolism. As a result of the British Empire, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies including Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and the United States. The substantial cultural influence of the United Kingdom has led it to be described as a "cultural superpower".[124][125] A global opinion poll for the BBC saw the United Kingdom ranked the third most positively viewed nation in the world (behind Germany and Canada) in 2013 and 2014.[489][490]

Literature

"British literature" refers to literature associated with the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Most British literature is in the English language. In 2005, some 206,000 books were published in the United Kingdom and in 2006 it was the largest publisher of books in the world.[491]

A number of UK cities are known for their music. Acts from Liverpool have had 54 UK chart number one hit singles, more per capita than any other city worldwide.[519]Glasgow's contribution to music was recognised in 2008 when it was named a UNESCOCity of Music, one of only three cities in the world to have this honour.[520]

Media

The BBC, founded in 1922, is the UK's publicly funded radio, television and Internet broadcasting corporation, and is the oldest and largest broadcaster in the world.[565][566][567] It operates numerous television and radio stations in the UK and abroad and its domestic services are funded by the television licence.[568][569] Other major players in the UK media include ITV plc, which operates 11 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network,[570] and News Corporation, which owns a number of national newspapers through News International such as the most popular tabloidThe Sun and the longest-established daily "broadsheet" The Times,[571] as well as holding a large stake in satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting.[572] London dominates the media sector in the UK: national newspapers and television and radio are largely based there, although Manchester is also a significant national media centre. Edinburgh and Glasgow, and Cardiff, are important centres of newspaper and broadcasting production in Scotland and Wales respectively.[573] The UK publishing sector, including books, directories and databases, journals, magazines and business media, newspapers and news agencies, has a combined turnover of around £20 billion and employs around 167,000 people.[574]

In 2009, it was estimated that individuals viewed a mean of 3.75 hours of television per day and 2.81 hours of radio. In that year the main BBC public service broadcasting channels accounted for an estimated 28.4 per cent of all television viewing; the three main independent channels accounted for 29.5 per cent and the increasingly important other satellite and digital channels for the remaining 42.1 per cent.[575] Sales of newspapers have fallen since the 1970s and in 2010 41 per cent of people reported reading a daily national newspaper.[576] In 2010, 82.5 per cent of the UK population were Internet users, the highest proportion amongst the 20 countries with the largest total number of users in that year.[577]

Sport

Major sports, including association football, tennis, rugby union, rugby league, golf, boxing, netball, rowing and cricket, originated or were substantially developed in the UK and the states that preceded it. With the rules and codes of many modern sports invented and codified in late 19th century Victorian Britain, in 2012, the President of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, stated; "This great, sports-loving country is widely recognised as the birthplace of modern sport. It was here that the concepts of sportsmanship and fair play were first codified into clear rules and regulations. It was here that sport was included as an educational tool in the school curriculum".[582][583]

In most international competitions, separate teams represent England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland usually field a single team representing all of Ireland, with notable exceptions being association football and the Commonwealth Games. In sporting contexts, the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish / Northern Irish teams are often referred to collectively as the Home Nations. There are some sports in which a single team represents the whole of United Kingdom, including the Olympics, where the UK is represented by the Great Britain team. The 1908, 1948 and 2012 Summer Olympics were held in London, making it the first city to host the games three times. Britain has participated in every modern Olympic Games to date and is third in the medal count.[citation needed]

The modern game of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the 1860s, before spreading around the world.[598] The world's oldest tennis tournament, the Wimbledon championships, first occurred in 1877, and today the event takes place over two weeks in late June and early July.[599]

St Andrews, Scotland, the home of golf. The standard 18 hole golf course was created at St Andrews in 1764.[601]

Golf is the sixth most popular sport, by participation, in the UK. Although The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in Scotland is the sport's home course,[602] the world's oldest golf course is actually Musselburgh Links' Old Golf Course.[603] In 1764, the standard 18-hole golf course was created at St Andrews when members modified the course from 22 to 18 holes.[601] The oldest golf tournament in the world, and the first major championship in golf, The Open Championship, is played annually on the weekend of the third Friday in July.[604]

Rugby league originated in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire in 1895 and is generally played in Northern England.[605] A single 'Great Britain Lions' team had competed in the Rugby League World Cup and Test match games, but this changed in 2008 when England, Scotland and Ireland competed as separate nations.[606] Great Britain is still retained as the full national team. Super League is the highest level of professional rugby league in the UK and Europe. It consists of 11 teams from Northern England, and one each from London, Wales and France.[607]

Symbols

The flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Flag (also referred to as the Union Jack). It was created in 1606 by the superimposition of the Flag of England on the Flag of Scotland and updated in 1801 with the addition of Saint Patrick's Flag. Wales is not represented in the Union Flag, as Wales had been conquered and annexed to England prior to the formation of the United Kingdom. The possibility of redesigning the Union Flag to include representation of Wales has not been completely ruled out.[613] The national anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the Queen", with "Queen" replaced with "King" in the lyrics whenever the monarch is a man.

A second, less used, personification of the nation is the character John Bull. The bulldog is sometimes used as a symbol of the United Kingdom and has been associated with Winston Churchill's defiance of Nazi Germany.[615]

Notes

^There is no authorised version of the national anthem as the words are a matter of tradition; only the first verse is usually sung.[1] No law was passed making "God Save the Queen" the official anthem. In the English tradition, such laws are not necessary; proclamation and usage are sufficient to make it the national anthem. "God Save the Queen" also serves as the Royal anthem for certain Commonwealth realms. The words Queen, she, her, used at present (in the reign of Elizabeth II), are replaced by King, he, him when the monarch is male.

^Some of the devolved countries, Crown dependencies and British Overseas Territories issue their own sterling banknotes or currencies, or use another nation's currency. See List of British currencies for more information

^Compare to section 1 of both of the 1800 Acts of Union which reads: the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland shall...be united into one Kingdom, by the Name of "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland"

^Sinn Féin, an Irish nationalist party, also contests elections in the Republic of Ireland.

^In 2007–2008, this was calculated to be £115 per week for single adults with no dependent children; £199 per week for couples with no dependent children; £195 per week for single adults with two dependent children under 14; and £279 per week for couples with two dependent children under 14.

^The 2011 Census recorded Gypsies/Travellers as a separate ethnic group for the first time.

^In the 2011 Census, for the purpose of harmonising results to make them comparable across the UK, the ONS includes individuals in Scotland who classified themselves in the "African" category (29,638 people), which in the Scottish version of the census is separate from "Caribbean or Black" (6,540 people),[372] in this "Black or Black British" category. The ONS note that "the African categories used in Scotland could potentially capture White/Asian/Other African in addition to Black identities".[373]

^Berkeley is in fact Irish but was called a 'British empiricist' due to the territory of what is now known as the Republic of Ireland being in the UK at the time

References

^"National Anthem". Official web site of the British Royal Family. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2016.

^"Definition of Great Britain in English". Oxford University Press. Retrieved 29 October 2014. Great Britain is the name for the island that comprises England, Scotland and Wales, although the term is also used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom.

^"Devolution of powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland". United Kingdom Government. Retrieved 17 April 2013. In a similar way to how the government is formed from members from the two Houses of Parliament, members of the devolved legislatures nominate ministers from among themselves to comprise executives, known as the devolved administrations...

^"Key facts about the United Kingdom". Directgov. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2015. The full title of this country is 'the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. Great Britain is made up of England, Scotland and Wales. The United Kingdom (UK) is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. 'Britain' is used informally, usually meaning the United Kingdom. The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are not part of the UK.

^Mathias, P. (2001). The First Industrial Nation: the Economic History of Britain, 1700–1914. London: Routledge. ISBN978-0-415-26672-7.

^Ferguson, Niall (2004). Empire: The rise and demise of the British world order and the lessons for global power. New York: Basic Books. ISBN978-0-465-02328-8.

^T.V. Paul; James J. Wirtz; Michel Fortmann (2005). "Great+power" Balance of Power. State University of New York Press. pp. 59, 282. ISBN978-0-7914-6401-4.Accordingly, the great powers after the Cold War are Britain, China, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and the United States p. 59

^"After the political union of England and Scotland in 1707, the nation's official name became 'Great Britain'", The American Pageant, Volume 1, Cengage Learning (2012)

^"From 1707 until 1801 Great Britain was the official designation of the kingdoms of England and Scotland". The Standard Reference Work: For the Home, School and Library, Volume 3, Harold Melvin Stanford (1921)

^"In 1707, on the union with Scotland, 'Great Britain' became the official name of the British Kingdom, and so continued until the union with Ireland in 1801". United States Congressional serial set, Issue 10; Issue 3265 (1895)

^S. Dunn; H. Dawson (2000), An Alphabetical Listing of Word, Name and Place in Northern Ireland and the Living Language of Conflict, Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, One specific problem – in both general and particular senses – is to know what to call Northern Ireland itself: in the general sense, it is not a country, or a province, or a state – although some refer to it contemptuously as a statelet: the least controversial word appears to be jurisdiction, but this might change.

^"Countries within a country". Number10.gov.uk. UK Government. 10 January 2003. Archived from the original on 9 September 2008. On this site the term ‘Britain’ is used informally to mean the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

^"The troubles were over, but the killing continued. Some of the heirs to Ireland's violent traditions refused to give up their inheritance." Holland, Jack (1999). Hope against History: The Course of Conflict in Northern Ireland. New York: Henry Holt. p. 221. ISBN978-0-8050-6087-4.

^Elliot, Marianne (2007). The Long Road to Peace in Northern Ireland: Peace Lectures from the Institute of Irish Studies at Liverpool University. University of Liverpool Institute of Irish Studies, Liverpool University Press. p. 2. ISBN1-84631-065-2.

^Sherman, Jill; Norfolk, Andrew (5 November 2004). "Prescott's dream in tatters as North East rejects assembly". The Times. London. Retrieved 15 February 2008. The Government is now expected to tear up its twelve-year-old plan to create eight or nine regional assemblies in England to mirror devolution in Scotland and Wales.(subscription required)

^"Profile of Jersey". States of Jersey. Archived from the original on 2 September 2006. Retrieved 31 July 2008. The legislature passes primary legislation, which requires approval by The Queen in Council, and enacts subordinate legislation in many areas without any requirement for Royal Sanction and under powers conferred by primary legislation.

^Burrows, N. (1999). "Unfinished Business: The Scotland Act 1998". The Modern Law Review. 62 (2): 241–260 [p. 249]. doi:10.1111/1468-2230.00203. The UK Parliament is sovereign and the Scottish Parliament is subordinate. The White Paper had indicated that this was to be the approach taken in the legislation. The Scottish Parliament is not to be seen as a reflection of the settled will of the people of Scotland or of popular sovereignty but as a reflection of its subordination to a higher legal authority. Following the logic of this argument, the power of the Scottish Parliament to legislate can be withdrawn or overridden...

^Elliot, M. (2004). "United Kingdom: Parliamentary sovereignty under pressure". International Journal of Constitutional Law. 2 (3): 545–627, 553–554. doi:10.1093/icon/2.3.545. Notwithstanding substantial differences among the schemes, an important common factor is that the U.K. Parliament has not renounced legislative sovereignty in relation to the three nations concerned. For example, the Scottish Parliament is empowered to enact primary legislation on all matters, save those in relation to which competence is explicitly denied ... but this power to legislate on what may be termed "devolved matters" is concurrent with the Westminster Parliament's general power to legislate for Scotland on any matter at all, including devolved matters ... In theory, therefore, Westminster may legislate on Scottish devolved matters whenever it chooses...

^Gamble, A. (2006). "The Constitutional Revolution in the United Kingdom". Publius. 36 (1): 19–35 [p. 29]. doi:10.1093/publius/pjj011. The British parliament has the power to abolish the Scottish parliament and the Welsh assembly by a simple majority vote in both houses, but since both were sanctioned by referenda, it would be politically difficult to abolish them without the sanction of a further vote by the people. In this way, several of the constitutional measures introduced by the Blair government appear to be entrenched and not subject to a simple exercise of parliamentary sovereignty at Westminster.

^Meehan, E. (1999). "The Belfast Agreement – Its Distinctiveness and Points of Cross-Fertilization in the UK's Devolution Programme". Parliamentary Affairs. 52 (1): 19–31 [p. 23]. doi:10.1093/pa/52.1.19. The distinctive involvement of two governments in the Northern Irish problem means that Northern Ireland's new arrangements rest upon an intergovernmental agreement. If this can be equated with a treaty, it could be argued that the forthcoming distribution of power between Westminster and Belfast has similarities with divisions specified in the written constitutions of federal states... Although the Agreement makes the general proviso that Westminster's 'powers to make legislation for Northern Ireland' remains 'unaffected', without an explicit categorical reference to reserved matters, it may be more difficult than in Scotland or Wales for devolved powers to be repatriated. The retraction of devolved powers would not merely entail consultation in Northern Ireland backed implicitly by the absolute power of parliamentary sovereignty but also the renegotiation of an intergovernmental agreement.

^World Development Indicators, World Bank. Retrieved 29 June 2011. Note: Used for Bermuda, Chad, Cyprus, Eritrea, Greenland, Federated States of Micronesia, Monaco, Netherlands, New Caledonia and Turkmenistan.

^Gascoin, J. "A reappraisal of the role of the universities in the Scientific Revolution", in Lindberg, David C. and Westman, Robert S., eds (1990), Reappraisals of the Scientific Revolution. Cambridge University Press. p. 248. ISBN0-521-34804-8.

^Kertzer, David I.; Arel, Dominique (2002). "Censuses, identity formation, and the struggle for political power". In Kertzer, David I.; Arel, Dominique (eds.). Census and Identity: The Politics of Race, Ethnicity, and Language in National Censuses. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–42.

^Fisher, Peter. "The NHS from Thatcher to Blair". NHS Consultants Association. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2018. The Budget ... was even more generous to the NHS than had been expected amounting to an annual rise of 7.4 per cent above the rate of inflation for the next 5 years. This would take us to 9.4 per cent of GDP spent on health ie around EU average.

^"Dafydd ap Gwilym". Academi website. Academi. 2011. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2011. Dafydd ap Gwilym is widely regarded as one of the greatest Welsh poets of all time, and amongst the leading European poets of the Middle Ages.